As alluded to yesterday, I was on a tear. On the Neal Boortz radio show Wednesday a woman describing herself as a tax accountant declared, “if you’re rich, if you have a million dollars, and have put your children through college, you ought to pay estate taxes. You ought to give back…” to the government for all the good things you’ve had. I don’t have a million dollars but I have one question, WHY!! What did the government do to deserve getting 50% of my estate. Just because it exists?
If I was one of those persons who through effort and hard work was able to accumulate a net worth of a million or more dollars I’d be saying…
“The government didn’t earn that estate. The government didn’t take the risks, work night and day, forgo vacations, family time and invest time, talent and intellect to make that million dollars happen. All the government did was try to keep me from earning it.
They taxed my annual personal and corporate income at exorbitant rates. They put on me unbelievable regulations to restrict my ability to grow and expand my business and provide work for more people. The regulations and taxes placed on me are also heaped on the businesses I do business with, meaning they have to increase their prices to cover the costs. I have to do the same to cover that additional burden, and the people, those customers of mine and the ones the government claims to be looking out for, have to pay increasing prices due to the hidden taxes they pay through increased prices due to government regulation and taxation.
I will give back. But I’ll give back my way. Through charitable contributions to the needy. Gifts to my church and other organizations whose purpose and methods I agree with and want to support and advance. I’ll give the gift of self-respect and hard work to those who I employ. I’ll help others who are willing an able to take the risks of self –employment by investing in them with my time and experience.
I’ll give my time to help the less fortunate at the local shelter and Habitat for Humanity project. I’ll work on projects at my church that help others and advance my personal beliefs.
But don’t tell me I owe the government half my estate. I’ll pay what I have to, but government hasn’t earned a bit of it and deserves nothing outside of what is required to provide for a national defense and basic constitutional government."